MEDIA ADVISORY: Mothers Gather at the Honduran Consulate

Mothers Gather at the Honduran Consulate in solidarity with the Mother of Berta Cáceres

Simultaneous prayer action led by Indigenous Peoples at the Permanent Mission of Honduras to the United Nations

New York-- On Tuesday, May 10th at 12 noon, Latin American Mother's Day dozens of mothers and community activists will gather at the Honduran Consulate in New York City, 255 W 36th St, Manhattan, in solidarity with Austra Bertha Flores Lopez’s call for an independent investigation into the assassination of her daughter, Indigenous and environmental justice activist Berta Cáceres. A team of mothers will deliver a large mother's day card to the Consulate with a bowl of water representing Berta's struggle for water rights of the Lenca people, along with the demands of Berta's family.

Immediately following this rally, the mothers and activists will join Indigenous People who are holding a prayer action for for Justice for Berta Cáceres and Honduras from 1-2pm at the Permanent Mission of Honduras to the United Nations, 866 UN Plaza, New York.

Background: Berta Cáceres, a Lenca woman, grew up during the violence that swept through Central America in the 1980s. Her mother, Austra Bertha Flores Lopez, was a midwife and social activist, who took in and cared for refugees from El Salvador, teaching her young children the value of standing up for disenfranchised people. Berta followed in her mother’s footsteps and became one of the leading organizers for indigenous land rights in Honduras, and was a co-founder of the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, or COPINH. Cáceres led the successful campaign that defeated one of Central America's biggest hydropower projects, the Agua Zarca cascade of four giant dams in the Gualcarque River basin. She had also been an outspoken critic of the US-backed military coup that ousted former President Zelaya from office in 2009.

On March 3, 2016, Berta Cáceres's life was taken from her and those who loved her when armed gunmen stormed into her home and shot her. Berta's mother and her three daughters are calling for an independent investigation into her assassination. While the Honduran government is beginning to feel the mounting pressure and began a series of arrests last week, Berta’s family has continued to be shut out of the investigation process.

Since the military coup in 2009 more than 60,000 Indigenous, environmental and human rights activists have been killed through extrajudicial executions in Honduras.